Bath Iron Works Corporation recently won a resounding victory in a case in which six plaintiffs sought to redefine Maine’s employment-at-will doctrine.  The plaintiffs in this case were all laid off in February 1996 after being hired by BIW in the fall of 1995.  During their interviews, they were told that BIW had a backlog of work, but that the employment security clause in the collective bargaining agreement that would control their employment would not apply to them.

Plaintiffs brought suit claiming that an employment contract had been created outside of the collective bargaining agreement and that their being informed of Bath Iron Works Corporation’s backlog of work created a promise of long-term employment for each of them.  BIW successfully defeated the plaintiffs’ contract based claims at summary judgment, and tried the remaining claims in Superior Court.  Plaintiffs waived their jury request on the eve of trial.  After a seven-day bench trial in which more than thirty witnesses were presented, the Court found for Bath Iron Works Corporation on all counts.

BIW’s victory prevented the imposition of new duties on employers during the employee interview process.  Under Maine’s employment-at-will doctrine, if there is no employment contract in effect, either employer or employee may terminate an employee’s employment without cause.  If the plaintiffs had prevailed, they would have voided the employment-at-will doctrine by turning discussion of future business predictions with a prospective employee into an enforceable promise of long-term employment for that employee.

This case emphasizes that attention must be paid to the hiring process as interviewees may seek to assert claims based upon statements made during interviews.  Preti Flaherty’s trial team of Christopher Nyhan and Jeffrey Peters successfully represented the defense of Bath Iron Works through trial. 

The plaintiffs filed an appeal of the case to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in late December.